Backstage Journal is a short Kageki feature where very young cast members write anecdotes about what’s going on behind the scenes of the productions. They’re not very deep, being full of emojis and more like blog entries than articles, but they are a good way to get to know the newest actresses in each troupe.
This one is by Snow Troupe member Hanabuki Noa (of the 93rd Class), and was published in the April 2011 issue.
Romeo et Juliette Backstage Journal – Hanabuki Noa
Hello to everyone reading this April issue of Kageki 💖 I’ve been generously given a second opportunity to write a Backstage Journal. I’m a Ken-5 member of Snow Troupe, Hanabuki Noa. I’d like to tell you all about behind the scenes of the Tokyo performance of Romeo et Juliette ✨
The Montague Friends
The 16 Montague boys and girls, under their leader Maisaki-san, are all as close as a real family. Like in the lyrics, “From morning till night 🎶” all of us childhood friends are able to communicate all throughout Les Rois du Monde and Le Reine Mab 🎶 and of course, with Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio as well 💖 When Romeo agrees to go to the masquerade due to those deep bonds, all the Montagues are in high spirits, and all 16 of us are doing adlibs as we run offstage singing “From morning till night 🎶” It’s always Maisaki-san who thinks of these things, like Mana (Haruto)-san deliberately getting all the notes wrong, or making Hanaka (Yurin)-san sing all by herself. So, Suzuse (Miuto)-san got the idea ‘Today, we should do that to Hime-san (Maisaki)!!’ and spread the ultra secret message among all 15 other Montagues below her.
Hime-san gave her instruction of “Today Mana-san will sing” and we all waited eagerly with our hearts pounding for the exit to come… “PAOLA (Maisaki)!! One, two—”
A ton of question marks seemed to appear around Hime-san’s head as we all called out. It was a total success ✨ Even though it was for just a moment, I felt our Montague teamwork even stronger than ever.
Do you like strawberries!?
One day, when we returned to performances after a day off, Toumi (Sarasa) received some amazingly delicious strawberries as part of her refreshments. “Ah ✨ It’s strawberries ✨” —such an unusual atmosphere all around. As for why we responded like that to the strawberries…the truth is…on our day off, a ton of us had gone to see a performance of Love and Youth in Takarazuka. Right after the debut rockette there’s that famous scene with Snow Troupe otokoyaku Ryuutan-san1 ✨ She looked so beautiful walking around jauntily with the tray full of strawberries. Toumi-san stood up silently, held the tray in one hand, and out the other hand on her hip to do a model’s catwalk. We all love parodies so we got so excited ⤴️ “Do you like strawberries?!” When she mimicked Ryuutan-san’s line so many voices were bouncing around saying “AHHHH 💖 Ryuutan-san!” After that this became the rule, and when they happened to receive strawberries later, Ayanagi (Shou)-san, Oosumi (Rei)-san, and Ayakaze (Sakina)-san all transformed into Ryuutan-san and strolled up and down the dressing room asking “Do you like strawberries?”
I still have so much I would love to tell you all, but I have to conclude here… Two of my dear classmates, Yuka (Chise Hijiri) and Mameya (Suzuran Maaya) have retired with this as their final production. Their personalities are totally different and they both like to do things in their own way, and when they’re talking to each other it goes like “Today I’m a HUNGRY MAN2” Apparently this is what they say when they’re starving, but when I heard it for the first time, I thought maybe they were talking about some superhero show… I’ll miss these two cute and funny ‘hungry men’ now that they have retired, but I hope that they have wonderful lives on their new path. And I hope I can encounter all of you readers again onstage or in Kageki… ✨
1 – In the 2011 stage adaptation of TV drama Love and Youth in Takarazuka,the character of Ryuutan/Mineno Shirayuki was played by Makoto Tsubasa and Kozuki Wataru.
2 – English in the original text.